Latest revision as of 09:16, February 7, 2013

Arsenius (Stadnitsky) of Novgorod was a hierarch of the Church of Russia and Archbishop of Novgorod from 1910 to 1933. He was a member of the Apostolic Governing Synod and was among those deposed following the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II. He died in exile.

Life

Auxentius Georgievich Stadnitsky was born on January 2, 1862 in the village of Komarov in Kishinev province of Bessarabia (present day Moldovia) into a family of a priest. Auxentius attended Kishinev Theological Seminary, graduating in 1880. In 1881, he entered the Kiev Theological Academy, and from which he graduated with a degree of candidate of theology. In 1895, he earned a master of theology degree and was tonsuredmonk with the name Arsenius. In 1896, he was ordained a priest and appointed, first, inspector and then rector at the theological seminary at Novgorod. Also, in 1896, Fr. Arsenius was raised to the dignity of archimandrite and made abbot of the Monastery of St. Anthony the Roman.

In 1897, Fr. Arsenius was appointed inspector at the Moscow Theological Academy. In 1898, he was made rector of the academy. In February 1899, Fr. Arsenius was consecrated Bishop of Volokolamsk, a vicariate of the Diocese of Moscow. In 1900, Bp. Arsenius made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In 1904, he received his doctorate in Church history.

In 1903, Bp. Arsenius was installed as Bishop of Pskov, where, in 1907, he was raised to the dignity of archbishop. Also in 1903, he was elected a member of the State Council. In 1905, Bp. Arsenius was appointed a member, and later president, of the Educational Committee of the Holy Synod, In 1910, he was transferred to the Diocese of Novgorod with the rank of metropolitan. In Novgorod, Metr. Arsenius, who also was an archaeologist, established the Novgorod Church Archeological Society in 1913.

Metr. Arsenius was also appointed a member of the Apostolic Governing Synod. Following the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II in early March 1917, Metr. Arsenius was removed, with all but one incumbent, as a member of the Synod by the new ober-procurator, Vladimir Lvov, who had been appointed by the incoming Provisional government. During the Council of 1917-1918, Metr. Arsenius was one of the three final candidates to fill the renewed position of patriarch of Russia.

In late 1917, after the Bolshevik revolution, his life and that of the diocese changed radically, as the clergy were repressed and executed. Church property was confiscated and from 1920 to 1922 the clergy were subjected to trials. Metr. Arsenius was first arrested in 1919 but released in 1921 before again being arrested in 1922. As Patr. Tikhon, Metr. Arsenius, and most the Church leaders were placed under judicial examination by the Bolsheviks during 1922 and 1923, many were forced into exile and imprisoned. After his trial, Metr. Arsenius was imprisoned for eleven months before being sent into exile in Tashkent in the middle of Asia.

During his exile, Metr. Arsenius remained the metropolitan of Novgorod until 1933. On August 24, 1933, he was appointed Metropolitan of Tashkent and Turkestan. Metr. Arsenius reposed on February 10, 1936 and was bury in Tashkent.